1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an ion exchange membrane, and more particularly to a device for fabricating an ion exchange membrane and a method for fabricating the ion exchange membrane using an electric field.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ion exchange membrane can be classified as a cation exchange membrane selectively permeable to cations and an anion exchange membrane selectively permeable to anions. This selective permeability to ions is due to the existence of inherent ion exchangers to which each of the ion exchange membranes is attached. For example, the cation exchange membrane contains fixed anions such as sulfonic acid group (—SO3−), and the anion exchange membrane contains fixed cations such as amine group (NH3+). Such ion exchangers attract ions with the opposite charges while repel ions with the same charges, thereby allowing for selective ion exchange.
A number of ion channels with these ion exchangers attached thereto are formed inside the ion exchange membrane. Studies on the ion channels have been consistently presented using a film of Nafion™. According to the analysis, such as Electro-Spin Resonance (ESR), Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), etc., aggregates of ion exchangers, also referred to as a cluster, are present in the film of Nafion™, and ion channels are extended and connected to the aggregates in various directions.
The travelling time of the ions is dependent on the length and direction of the ion channels formed in the ion exchange membrane, which results in a long distance travelling path of the ions by the ion channels extended toward various directions as mentioned above, and therefore rapid movement of the ions cannot be expected. In order to solve this problem, the ion travelling distance is intended to be drastically reduced by deflecting the ion channels to a desired direction, such that a significantly fast and efficient movement of the ions can be achieved.